With view to the EU's goal of climate neutrality, more and more buildings which are already equipped with smoke and heat extraction systems (SHEVS) on their roofs will soon also have to be fitted with PV systems. In order to be able to extract smoke effectively and in accordance with the relevant standards, the NSHEV also in combination with the associated systems (SHEVS) must meet the requirements of the smoke extraction areas stipulated by building regulations.

In other words, the devices must be surrounded by minimum clearances, i.e. areas on which no roof structures are mounted that could disrupt the wind flow around the devices. If the minimum clearances around the devices are not observed, this could lead in the worst case to the withdrawal of a building's licence depending on the national regulation.

I.F.I. has conducted extensive research on the issue:

Can PV systems and NSHEV coexist on a roof without negative mutual interference?

and developed first concrete answers and solutions.

Various investigations carried out by our team and with the help of a master student have shown that the minimum requirements of the current guidelines (at least in Germany) are not sufficient to rule out any influence from the PV systems on the SHEVS. However with customized investigations we are able to produce reliable data which our clients can use to plan the arrangement of NSHEV and PV systems on roofs and still maximize areas for PV systems at the same time.

In this way, we can help our clients to minimize loss of space without endangering compliance with building regulations.

Your contacts for enquiries: Jorge Gomez and Tim Hillmann.

Further information on our investigations are available in German under Section "Veröffentlichungen".